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Putin's "best friend in Ukraine" arrested - Russia reacts angrily: "False births!"

2022-04-14T08:01:04.303Z


Putin's "best friend in Ukraine" arrested - Russia reacts angrily: "False births!" Created: 04/14/2022Updated: 04/14/2022 09:52 By: Linus Prien Oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk is seated in this picture provided by the Ukrainian President's Press Office. © dpa Ukraine has arrested a close ally of Putin. The oligarch tried to break free from his house arrest. In Russia, he is said to be threatened wi


Putin's "best friend in Ukraine" arrested - Russia reacts angrily: "False births!"

Created: 04/14/2022Updated: 04/14/2022 09:52

By: Linus Prien

Oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk is seated in this picture provided by the Ukrainian President's Press Office.

© dpa

Ukraine has arrested a close ally of Putin.

The oligarch tried to break free from his house arrest.

In Russia, he is said to be threatened with death.

Kyiv - Ukraine's intelligence service has arrested Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in Ukrainian politics, oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk.

This was announced by the SBU secret service in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the success of the agents in a special operation on Facebook.

The SBU released photos of Medvedchuk handcuffed and wearing a Ukrainian uniform.

Now an exchange of prisoners against Ukrainian soldiers is supposed to be in the room.

In Russia, according to Ukrainian estimates, the oligarch is threatened with death.

Ukraine war: Putin's 'best friend in Ukraine' arrested

The big businessman and politician Medvedchuk has been considered a key figure in the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv for years.

His connection to Putin sometimes allowed him to act as a mediator.

However, his political projects and the television channels he controlled represented pro-Russian positions.

He is considered Putin's best friend in Ukraine.

Zelenskyj, in turn, had the oligarch's television stations closed.

In May 2021, Medvedchuk was placed under house arrest on charges of high treason.

He withdrew from this a few days before the start of the Ukraine conflict.

SBU head Ivan Bakanov said after Medvedchuks.

Arrest: "No traitor will escape punishment and he will be held accountable under the law of Ukraine"

Ukraine War: Zelenskyj proposes prisoner exchange

Zelenskyy proposed an exchange of Medvedchuk for Ukrainians in Russian POWs: Medvedchuk disguised himself with a uniform, so he should be treated under martial law, Zelenskyy said in his usual nightly video address on Tuesday evening in Kyiv.

"I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange their boy for our boys and girls in Russian captivity."

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reacted furiously to Medvedchuk's arrest and made serious allegations against Kyiv.

"Some freaks calling themselves the 'Ukrainian government' say they want to beat a confession out of Viktor Medvedchuk, sentence him 'quickly and fairly' and then exchange them for prisoners," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, accused Kyiv of using torture methods - without providing any evidence.

An advisor to Zelenskyj reported on the Medvedchuk case via Twitter.

According to Mykhailo Podolyak, the only way for the oligarch to hide is in the Ukrainian prison.

Many years in prison await him for sure.

"In Russia he will definitely be eliminated."

(lp/dpa)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-14

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